Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Thriller has been thrown around as a strong, if not obvious choice for the Halloween set at Festival 8 for months now. My biggest problem with the idea of Phish covering Thriller is that only Michael Jackson can sing like Michael Jackson.

But...there could be another possibilty. What if Trey got his guitar to sing like MJ? Check out this video from the GRAB tour and maybe you will hear what I mean:

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Let's explore the possibilities for a moment. Kid A and Phish. I love the concept. The boys are accomplished musicians that can definitely re-arrange Radiohead's difficult songs and put their unique twist and sound to the songs.

As BTreotch said, "It's so hard to cover Thom Yorke because he is an alien and Trey is only Jesus."

My assessment? It's a long shot for sure. But, if by chance the band gets orders directly from the Mothership to play Kid A, then I will literally shit myself if I hear Page peck out the first few notes to Everything In It's Right Place...

The Oxy Years are back with Volume III. In this volume we explore more dirty jams of the oxy years starting with a Twist from Camden 2003 that clocks in at 23 minutes. This just scratches the surface of oxy moments before we are treated to the popular Tower Jam from IT. For those itching for more, we go deep into the even more popular SPAC Piper from 2004. Next I was able to inject a little oxy jam from the Coventry Soundcheck which has become one of my favorite new jams. The final track takes us back to Camden, but this time in 2004, for a dark and eerie Scents and Subtle Sounds.

Volume III Credits:cmanhatan4 - TwistPeterPhan - S&SSErik Thoms - Tower JamThanks for every ones support on these mixes! As always, please feel free to make oxy suggestions for future volumes. Feel even more free to upload them!

WARNING: Coventry: Phish Blog is not responsible for any Heroin or Oxycontin addictions that may result from listening to Phish: The Oxy Years.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

This fall Widespread Panic and the Allman Brothers hit the road together. I skipped the Allman Brothers show at Red Rocks, but I caught the Panic shows earlier in the summer at the Mile High Music Festival. Panic has been killing it in 2009, but I have heard mixed reviews of the Allman Brothers shows. Still, the Panic/ABB shows had numerous sit-ins each night and sounded like a lot of fun.

I found some downloads I thought I would pass along...Thanks to The Boogie Spot for putting them together!

Friday, September 25, 2009

"The past three Presidents have all more or less admitted trying the drug, Nadelmann continues, and the current one, when asked if he inhaled, famously retorted, "I thought that was the point." -How Marijuana Became Legal, Roger Parloff, 9-18-09, Fortune

Fortune magazine published a cover story on the earning potential of pot. The article argues that legal marijuana cultivation and distribution in the United States is happening, and the proprietors are raking in the dough. Dr. Pauly did a post earlier this year on CA's budget crisis and how Gov. Schwarzenegger suggested legal pot could help.

I did a double-take when I saw Fortune this week. This isn't an MSNBC special; this publication lands in thousands of money making laps every month. Growing up in the mostly conservative state of Florida, a magazine with this sort of cover usually ends up in the "censored" section of supermarket periodicals. Not today. Uptight, conservative business types across the south must have spit tobacco in their grits when they pulled this months Fortune out of their mailbox.

For those of you wondering why I find this so fascinating, the normalization of marijuana use in the United States has gone virtually unnoticed by many. In Florida for example, even minor possession or paraphernalia still warrant's 1 year in jail, not to mention steep fines and other obligations. Cultivation is a huge risk. Seeing a major financial, mass-media publication go with a pro-marijuana cover story is a positive indicator that a national, pro-marijuana additude shift may be closer. Maybe??

The 2000+ word article details the sort of fairy tale scenario my heady brothers and sisters out west have been spouting for a while. My friends and I hear stories, but there is little to hang our hats on. I think it's like Vegas. You hear about it, but until you go one can't fully appreciate the greatness that is. When a story such as the Fortune article comes out, it legitimizes a dream.

As some of you undoubtedly knew, there are more marijuana dispensaries in LA than there are Starbucks. I'm most interested in the hash selection. Seriously though, the article is top notch in the traditional Fortune way. Nadelmann spends pages detailing the business of running a dispensary. He also discusses the bending legal climate, as well as interviewing several financial experts who predict the legal pot market will grow.

The article also contains some top notch video's with the "fortune" stamp of approval on them (hilarious).

This interview with Mara Davis in Atlanta had several interesting revelations...

Trey also admitted that he doesn't read Phish blogs because all the negative stuff sends him on tilt! That means he's never read Coventry. Oh well. We haven't made a Trey Oxy joke in a week. He's missing out on our hijinks.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

First, Phish The Oxy Years VOLUME III will be posted Monday, September 28th. Since the release of the initial volume, I have learned a few things about iTunes tagging and artwork. The first two volumes did not have the correct track tags in them, and therefore some of you might have had issues with the tracks not being in the correct order when you imported them into iTunes. If you do not know how to correct this issuse, please email me and i will walk you through it step-by-step - its very simple and takes less than 2 minutes.

Next, Volume III will include Album Artwork which should be included when you import this volume into iTunes. I have uploaded the artwork for the first two volumes which you can now download below.

Thao Nguyen, Coventry's favorite little folktress, is releasing a new album on Kill Rockstars October 13th with her band Thao with the Get Down Stay Down entitled "Know Better Learn Faster." They've released the single of the same name, but otherwise have done a great job at preventing any leaks of the full release. Fair enough. You can however, preorder the album ($13 + S/H) and immediately download the mp3s. I'm only halfway through the album, but so far it's more of the same sincere, bubbly rhythmic songs like Bee Stings and All.

There is very anonymous person on Phantasy Tour that goes by the handle of "doreatha". We believe doreatha is female, but no one can confirm this. In fact, no one can confirm anything about doreatha yet doreatha seems to be able to confirm a lot of personal information about all of us. She knows so much that it has become very creepy. The Joker and I have opened up an official investigation into revealing the identity of doreatha.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Thanks to Mountain Laura for finding this over on NPR Music. This is the 6th in a series of Video's titled Regrets performed by the sketch group, Cook County Social Club. I can certainly relate to a couple of the others in the series as well (Hobbies for one and that little poker obsession I flirt with).

MY NAME IS LORI and I'm a fan of the Dave Matthews Band. There, I said it the First Step!! I'm kind of in the closet about my love for DMB. There are a few people that know about my affliction. I take a lot of crap from my nephew Zack and I even think Dr Pauly has an inkling. But I keep it as we Italians say: Sotto Voce. I mean I don't want my hard core Phish phan colleagues to go all GameHendge on me. How did I go to the dark side? Well, it began with the death of Jerry Garcia, that pushed me over the edge (that and I ended an engagement with a former bass player who played LoverBoy). And so began my flirtation with DMB.

So what's your musical guilty pleasure/obsession? Obviously I'm a Jam band garbage head (I experiment and am willing to try new stuff all the time) and as with most things in my life If I really like something or get interested in it, I go a little crazy.

Wow. Ten years ago today? Holy shit, I'm getting old. This was one of my favorite shows on that fall tour. In the 170 or so shows under my belt, this night in Chula Vista one stands out among the top 10 Phish shows I had ever seen. Everything seemed to gel that evening.

I was in a great head space mentally. Great venue. Tenth row. The band was on fire that September. The people I was with were awesome, including my girlfriend at the time and her friends from Texas. The drugs were perfect. We were going over the border the next day so we could celebrate my birthday, so we had to do all of our drugs that night. Yeah, all of those factors led me down the path towards one of my favorite concert experiences.

That 20+ minute version of Stevie Wonder's Boogie On to open the second set made the show. Listen for yourself...

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Here are a couple of videos I found of Mike Gordon's recent show at the Bearsville Theater which I attended on 9/11/09:

ENCORE

I'm pretty sure this video was shot by a dude who came up next to me to video one song. I remember when he panned in on Scott for a few minutes. That may actually be my shoulder/head moving in the corner as I was that close in front of Scott.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

People have been "itching" for Volume II and now its finally here. You asked for darker and scarier oxy jams, so this Volume features some rock bottom moments of The Oxy Years. The mix starts out with what at first might seem like a lite and fluffy Theme from the Bottom (2.24.03), but by the end of the song Trey has a nose full of oxy, and his guitar is bleeding with distortion and delay. From there we are guided into some very dark places with the epitome of oxy jams - 46 Days from IT. It’s all downhill from there, Phans!

Special thanks this time around goes to phdunk4 for pointing out Theme From The Bottom, and BigBalls for supplying material from IT. I have not forggoton about SPAC Piper or The Tower Jam. They WILL be on Volume III which should be ready for Halloween. As always, feel free to make suggestions for the next volume.

If you missed out on Phish: The Oxy Years VOLUME I - you can get it HERE

WARNING: Coventry: Phish Blog is not responsible for any Heroin or Oxycontin addictions that may result from listening to Phish: The Oxy Years.

Hidden Track is holding a Halloween costume-idea contest in which the winner recieves free tickets to Phish 8. Besides sounding like an idea by my 3rd grade teacher, the glide magazine blog offers funny ideas from phan's vying for free admission. Based on the responses and other comments from Goat's post last week, Phish 8 should be a menagerie of phish animals, song/album representations, movie/book characters and the ever present slutty chick costumes (my personal favorite).

I have been inspired to start my own costume contest. All phans with slutty chick costume ideas are encouraged to post links to #1's in the comments section below. Judging will be done by the Coventry crew, and the winner will receive a half drunk bottle of wild turkey in Indio, presented by the stumbling yet virile author of this post. Good luck and see you on lot.

For more copy cat fun, check out a similar headspin post in which phans try and guess what album will be covered at Indio.

Let's get right to it. This had to be one of the best shows I've seen all year in a great magical venue. The Bearville Theater sits next to a creek about two miles outside of Woodstock proper. There are two restaurants in separate buildings in front of the theatre and next door is WDST: Woodstock's radio station and hosts of the nights festivities.

Inside the front door is a lounge area where they have tables set up with tea lights and the a large bar. On the walls are pictures some black and white, some color of the many musicians who have called Woodstock home at one time or the other or passed thru: Bob Dylan, The Band, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin. There is a deck off the back that has tables too, and on a warm night you can head outside and hang out there.

The venue has totally laid back vibe. I heard one local couple say to a friend "we decided to come down to hang out and check the show out" And this being Woodstock after all, you never know who might show up, as its the current home of Levon Helm ( his Midnight Rambles are legendary shows that sell out weeks in advance), Don Fagen of Steely Dan, Michael Lang promoter of 1969's Woodstock Festival, and Robert Thurman (father of Uma , and co-founder of NYC's Tibet House). The Black Crowes recorded their latest album at Levon's studio. Medeski, Martin and Wood often pass through. In fact, the Wood brothers will be playing Bearsville in a few weeks.

I got there way early as I thought the festivities started at 8PM. The doors didn't open till 8 PM and I wound up cooling my heels. I had a ticket to get rid of as Kim couldn't make it. I sold it for a little below face to a couple from Chicago (Carrie and Mike) who had flown in to see the Midnight Ramble the next night. There was no Shakedown Street, no Nitrous Mafia, not too many wookies or pairs of patchy pants were even present. The first dude in line actually marched right into the concert area and planted himself in front of what I figured would be Mike's amp (I assumed he would take same position as he does with Phish and I was right).

I checked out the stuff for sale. I almost bought the Bearsville Theater poster and immediately thought of the Joker's artwork. The poster for Bearsville was a stretch brown bear ala a stretch limousine. Way Cool!! The other cool poster was the body of a person or scarecrow in flannel but the head was an ear of corn. Think that was from one of the two previous shows. Equally way cool.

I tried to get the dude selling Mike's stuff to tell me what they had soundchecked live over on WDST. He said "I honestly can't remember, but it was good and you wont be disappointed." I went to get a soda found the setlist over on the soundboard but didnt take a picture of it or swipe it or copy it down. It wouldn't have mattered anyway as that night the band veered from the original setlist (as per Scott Murawski's blog from the road). I did go back to look at the CD's and as I was looking, I muttered to myself "Oh one of my favorite Max Creek tunes is on this" (Emotional Railroad) that got the dude's attention and he told me he does the sound for Max Creek and of course before we could continue a conversation and I could get his name a ton of people came over and I told him to vend!!

The surprise of the evening was the solo acoustic opening act of Reid Genauer. Reid used to play in a band called StrangeFolk (which also was founded out of Burlington Vt and UVM) and is now with Assembly of Dust who did a great show at Gathering of the Vibes. The only thing that marred his performance was the baby who cried thru at least two of his songs. I shall not say a word because knowing my luck it will turn out to be Mike Gordon's kid who was wailing. Insert smiley face here!! I dont have Reid's set list but i know it included the tunes Cold Coffee, Second Song and Leadbelly and Speculator. Second Song is on the new AOD album No Assembly Required which Mike Gordon performs on as well as Keller Williams, Al Shnieer of Moe., John Scofield, David Grisman, Grace Potter and Jeff Pevar (Crosby, Pevar and Raymond). Reid was joined by Todd Isler (Mike's drummer) on a couple of tunes.

Reid said "I know you folks have come to have your face melted, well I'm the butter". I know I was not disappointed. He mentioned that one song, I believe it was Cold Coffee had been compared to The Band. I could hear the same range/pitch in his voice as Levon Helm's in "The Night They Drove old Dixie Down" but he also reminded me of Neil Young at times too.

After a short break. Mike's band took the stage. I was one person off the stage in front of Scott's amp and microphone stand but had an awesome view of both keyboardist Tom Cleary and Mike. If Scott stood 5 feet back on stage I was perhaps no more then 8-10 feet from him and about the same to Mike and Tom. I still had to crane my neck up though. For those of you not familiar with the line up the Mike Gordon Band consists of:

The set-up was pretty similar to Phish with Tom in Page's spot, Scott in Trey's and Craig on percussion and Todd Isler anchoring from the back middle position. Mike of course got huge screams when he came out but there was equally load screams for Scott too. As there are dudes Ghey for Trey there are dudes equally as Ghey for Scott. When I asked the dude next to me who did a SCOTTY scream if he was a fan of Max Creek he said no "Only became aware of him when he played with Bill Kreutzmann's band BK3. What about you?" I smugly got to reply been following Max Creek for 23-24 years.

I've just listed the setlist best as I could and my mental recollections of the evening. As I mentioned above they veered from it and I am no expert on Mike tunes although I have seen him before at SPAC with Trey (pre-Phish 3.0 and pre Oxy-clean Trey!!).

Suskind Hotel (the opener was nice and funky loved this tune)Walls Of Timepercussion jam> jam w. vocal jam>Traveled Too FarSwamp Music (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover which Mike introduced as this is how it would have been in 1972 if skynyrd listened to Phish)The Field > (Scott M was on lead vocals for either the Field or another door)Another Door >Things That Make You Go Hmm (the old C&C music factory tune had my hands in the air and shaking my booty-Craig Myers on vocals for this one)Crumblin Bones. percussion jam * (Scott and Tom sat out on stage Mike joined in on the end on bass). Dig Further Down. E: MeatOnly A Dream >Soulfood Man

* with Ken Lovelett on lapdrum

If these guys happen to pass through your town within the next three weeks be sure to check them out. You will not be disappointed. And check out Scott Murawski's blog from tour. It will give you an inside on how musicians view and work their craft. Plus he often has a fun question of the day like what do you drink at Starbucks and What would you bring on a bus that your going to be on for a month (earplugs, Ipod and Ipod charger, a laptop and or blackberry and a deck of cards).

And as I was walking off the concert room floor and heading out one of the doors to the lounge, Mike was being escorted back into the room by one dude and passed like 2 inches from me. I just smiled and nodded. Perfect end to a great night of music.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Perhaps due to the great suggestions from The Goat's post asking what albums Phish fans would like to hear, a blogger realized that he/she no longer has some of the albums in his/her collection. Or maybe he/she had not even listened to that album before? (gasp!)

If you find yourself wondering what its like to listen to Phish's David Bowie>Ziggy Stardust all the way through, for example, we invite you to check out the new blog Halloween, brAh!

Word on the street is new albums will be added. If you have a suggestion and a link, maybe leave a comment and see if it gets updated.

The good folks over on Woodstock's WDST (Mt Jam hosts with Warren Haynes) had this video up over on their website. It's pretty funny.

Mike is sound checking live on WDST at 5:00 PM. I'll be heading down to the show at the Bearsville theater shortly.

In the meantime, check out Scott Murawsk's blog from the road. For those of you not familiar with Scott he is the lead guitarist for Max Creek, BK3 and is currently on the road with his good buddy Mike Gordon reprising his role on lead guitar.

Dang it they played Sugar Shack last nite. Maybe I'll get a Possumtonite. Dr Pauly thinks I'll get a She Said but they played that in Sommerville, MA 9/9/09.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

It's well established at this point that Halloween Phish shows are special. Different. Spifferent, they are. The reason is simple: On Halloween, Phish comes in "costume." Not dressed up, not that, Fishman dress aside. Their costume is musical. They become an act, and play one of those act's signature albums in its entirety.

They've been The Beatles. They've been The Who. In my favorite incarnation, they were The Talking Heads.

It's coming again. Halloween. And Phish is back. And the question becomes . . . which costume would make your dreams come true, would make you grin, would make you dance the meatstick until Thanksgiving?

This isn't a casual question for a Phish fan, my friends. These bands seep into Phish. They influence our favorite band. This summer we got at least two Beatles covers and a positively IMMENSE Psycho Killer. Whatever they do at the end of Octover, it is safe to say that it will have lasting reverberations throughout the Phishiverse.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Joy is officially released today. Many of you have already heard it through a leaked copy or perhaps you were listening to live versions via We Can Still Have Joy.

At any rate, I polled my colleagues at Coventry Music Blog about their favorite and least favorite songs on the new album. Aside from Time Turns Elastic getting the (obvious) nod for Worst Song, the other results were a little surprising considering that Oceleot got the nod for Best Song on Joy.

I asked everyone to rank their top three and bottom three songs. The number of first place votes is in parentheses.

Best Song on Joy:1. Ocelot (4)2. Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan (1)3. Backwards Down the Number Line (2)

Worst Song on Joy:1. Time Turns Elastic (4)2. Joy (2)3. I Been Around (2)

Although Backwards Down the Number Line had more first place votes than Stealing Time for Best Song, that was the only votes it received. Stealing Time was selected as second favorite song twice and even picked up a third place vote.

Kill Devil Falls and Twenty Years Later did not get any first place votes for Best Song, however, they did get mentioned as a second or third favorite.

I Been Around featuring Page got only two votes for Worst Song and they were in the top spot. Joy, the bittersweet title track, was mentioned as the second Worst Song on the album on two occasions.

Sugar Shack is a mixed-bag with our crew. It was the only other song that got a first place vote for Best Song, yet it was also considered for Worst Song on the album and also got two votes for second worst song and two votes for third worst song.

So there you have it. We sampled the goods and have spoken. We love Ocelot and don't like TTE.

Monday, September 07, 2009

Yesterday I was a guest on the jam scene's newest podcast, This Week On Lot. Listen as I discuss a couple of summer tour stories with Nick and Steve. We also get into the release of Joy and answer some voice mails. Be sure to call and leave a voice mail like Broseph did last week at 419-NO-WOOKS. Next week one of the topics will be a discussion of caller's favorite lot scenes across the country.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Chuck Prophet headed down to Mexico City to record an album with his band and here's a trailer to the documentary film that chronicled that journey which included an earthquake and an outbreak of the Swine Flu...

Saturday, September 05, 2009

This is a FREELY TRADED, NEVER SOLD home movie of Phish Backstage. Total running time 1 hour 20 minutes.

The Rev. Jeff Mosier (Blueground Undergrass) was contracted by Phish in the Fall of 1994, to help them learn Bluegrass. They flew him to Michigan and Gordon picked him up in a limo, and they had their first lesson on 11-14-94, same night as Grand Rapids.

With his Blessing, the footage he shot of this whole experience, backstage and onstage, was remastered and is now being shared.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Some of my favorite Phish is the dark stuff. I like my jams dirty, nasty, evil, and scary. I get chills when it sounds like Satan himself is playing guitar. There were a lot of these jams in 2003 & 2004, also known as the 2.0 era. Here at Coventry we call this period of Phish, The Oxy Years.

Here is Volume I of a III part mix featuring some the best Oxy Jams. With the exception of the first and last tracks, these are JUST JAMS spliced together seamlessly.

Yesterday morning I got an email from @discosis1, encouraging me to download the software from Simplify Media. She said it was cool, that I could have access to my friend's music on itunes as well as link my iphone to my home library.

I was busy and didn't get home till late last night to try it out.

In the 12 hours that I have had this software (7 of them sleeping) I have to say:

Example: Last night I was able to link to a couple of my friend's itunes libraries. I was able to discover a live recording of the David Byrne set from Bonnaroo '09 on Phil's computer in Houston, and play it instantly.

Intrigued, I paid for the iphone app ($5.99). This morning on my bike ride to work I was able to play 11/22/97 Set II Tweezer>Black Eyed Katy>Piper on my iphone, the music was on my home computer. I was also able to listen to some Amon Tobin from Jonas0tt0's computer as I ate a breakfast burito and sipped coffee at my desk. The only snag I ran into was when I lost the signal as I got on the elevator.

I feel like I have had an OH SHIT moment. I can't wait to have all my music loving friends set this up and we will be listening to each other's music with just a click.

If you already have the software, or if this sounds like a good time, you can invite me - my username is the same as my twitter name.

EW’s Music Mix is searching for the Greatest Guilty Pleasure Musical Act of All Time. Last week Phish took an overwhelming win over Nickleback and has moved on to Round #2 to face R&B legend, Mariah Carey. Although a "Guilty Pleasure" refers to something one enjoys despite feeling guilt for it, Phish fans want their band to win, even if it means they’re really losing.

"In part due to multiple voting irregularities and other behavior not in the letter or the spirit of this game, Phish advanced past Nickelback in Round One. NOTE: Continued funny business will result in disqualification. UPDATE: “Funny business” is defined as “hacking the system in order to vote multiple times,” as well as “Not really participating, just wanting Phish to win because ‘Phish always wins.’” Thank you."